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Tuesday, 12 June 2018

In Coahuila, the shadow of the PRI is long

La politica es la politica has posted 32 articles - one for each state in Mexico, including Mexico City - in advance of the July 1, 2018, presidential election. For links to all 32 articles, scroll to the bottom of this post.

Coahuila is the third
largest state in Mexico by land area. Its northern border, 318 miles long, is
with the United States. To the east Coahuila borders Nuevo León, and to the
west Durango and Chihuahua, with its southern border touching both Zacatecas and
San Luis Potosí.

The state only has a
population of about three million – a pittance in a country of 127 million –
yet it made a name for itself during the governorship of Humberto Moreira (1
December 2005 – 4 January 2011), who is allegedly one Mexico’s more impressive
kelptocrats. Moreira, who belongs to the Institutional Revolutionary Party
(PRI), used his power of decree to run up the state debt from a mere US $27
million to an astounding $2.8 billion. Much of this money was allegedly used to
rig elections – including the 2012 election campaign for PRI president Enrique
Peña Nieto – or ended up in bank accounts controlled by the governor, his
family, and his friends and political allies.

Moreira is also
accused of having had close ties with the ultraviolent Los Zetas cartel, which
comes with a price. On 3 October 2012, Moreira’s eldest son, 26 year old José
Eduardo, was murdered. Officials believe that Los Zetas killed José Eduardo in
retaliation against Moreira for not giving them their fair share from a money
laundering operation.

Such horrors didn’t stop
Moreira from pillaging the state coffers. After having cratered Coahuila’s
credit rating from A+ to BBB-, Moreira presumably thought he could retire with
his personal fortune under the full cover of the ruling PRI, travelling the world
and spending his ill-gotten gains. But the United States’ government caught
wind of Moreira’s crimes, and put out an international warrant for money
laundering. On January 15, 2016, Humberto Moreira was arrested at the Barajas
Airport in Spain, and charged with money laundering and embezzlement. He is now
out on restricted bail. To date, investigators in the United States have found
more than 60 million dollars allegedly hidden by Moreira in tax havens in the
Cayman Islands and Monaco.

Why is this relevant to
the 2018 presidential election? Because, as in other states with PRI governors
that have been plunged into corruption and violence during Peña Nieto’s
six-year term, the electorate fear putting the PRI back in power. But stopping
the PRI in Coahuila isn’t easy. The present PRI governor of Coahuila, Rubén
Moreira Valdez, is not only a major party operator, he is also the brother of
the disgraced former governor. This reflects the depth and sophistication of
the PRI’s corrupt operations at the state level.

The military delivers ballots to Coahuila(Photo: Héctor
García for Vanguardia)

If properly counted,
ballots for the July 1 federal election would surely indicate that the PRI’s José
Antonio Meade, running as part of the “Todos por México” (All for Mexico)
coalition with the Green Party (PVEM) and New Alliance (PANAL) party, would
perform poorly.

Ricardo Anaya for the
PAN-PRD coalition might have decent support, given that two of the three senators
from Coahuila are with the PAN (the third is PRI). (It is important to note
that on July 1 voters will not only be voting for president – they will also be
casting their ballots for the three senate seats, and for seven federal deputies).

The man leading in the
polls, Manuel López Obrador (known as AMLO), may also do well if he can pull
votes off the PRI. AMLO is running as the head of the National Regeneration
Movement (MORENA) as part of a larger coalition called Juntos Haremos Historia
(Together We Make History).

Part of the challenge
will be to see if the elections can be run cleanly. The level of distrust toward
officials in Coahuila is such that a grand display was made on June 12 by the National
Electoral Institute (INE), which pushed a story showing how the Mexican Army was
in charge of the secure delivery of ballots in Coahuila. If nothing else, this
will provide INE with some cover, given that PRI activists will almost
certainly try and fix the vote. To date, complaints have already come in involving
vote-buying with blankets and food, as well as voter suppression via
misinformation.

The military delivers ballots to Coahuila(Photo: Héctor García for Vanguardia)

As is true in most of
Mexico, safety is also an issue. On Friday, June 8, a Coahuila candidate for
federal Congress was killed in Piedras Negras. Fernando Purón Johnston, a
member of the PRI, was shot at point blank range by a gunman outside an
auditorium after participating in a political forum. No motive is known, but it
is believed that organized crime was behind the murder. To date, according to
officials, five other political candidates in Coahuila have reported receiving death
threats.

This situation in Coahuila is difficult for journalists, as well. In the 20th century – before the start of the drug war in December, 2006 – a total of four journalists were killed in Coahuila. However, in the past ten years alone 11 journalists have been murdered. As is the case in other states were journalists are at risk, such as Guerrero, Chihuahua, and Veracruz, the pressure on a free press severely limits accountability, and allows for the impunity and lack of transparency that has hobbled Mexico for decades.

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